[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-am-i-the-villain-or-not":3,"chapter-am-i-the-villain-or-not-am-i-the-villain-or-not-chapter-369":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Am I the Villain or Not?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},571578,820,"Chapter 369 - 372: Praise The Sun","am-i-the-villain-or-not-chapter-369",369,"\u003Cp>\"Our race is born from blood, undying and unextinguished.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Neither god, nor demon, nor human.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We stand above all living things, feeding on blood, devouring life.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No one has witnessed our true form.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We lurk in the darkness, hide among the crowd, nurturing the blood moon, waiting quietly for the right time.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When the blood-colored six wings appear in the world, the dark moon hangs high, twilight reaches its threshold, bloodlust runs rampant,\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"All things wail in sorrow.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...Excerpt from \"Dracula's Oath\": Section 36\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Laurien was an exception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was a Blood Race Prince.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As powerful as he was, he possessed a nearly eternal life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Laurien had said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An undying Blood Race should not possess complicated emotions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The elders among the Blood Race had always warned him of this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he was a prince among the Blood Race, possessing the purest and strongest bloodline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, Laurien stayed quietly within the embrace of his family for hundreds of years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Occasionally, some of his fellow Blood Race would leave the family, and when they returned, they would endlessly describe the beauty of the outside world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This stirred a strong curiosity about the outside world in Laurien's heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the elders repeatedly emphasized that the outside world was filled with schemes and undercurrents, full of danger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, they had always forbidden Laurien from leaving the family's territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in Laurien's view, even those weaker than him could move freely in the outside world, so how could he, a prince, fear the storms beyond?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, he had already lived for hundreds of years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ignoring everyone's advice, Laurien resolutely left the family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was full of confidence, even believing he could be invincible in the entire human world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the moment he stepped out, his Blood Race identity was recognized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the one who recognized him was a world-class necromancer, Duke Barlow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that battle, Duke Barlow's necromancy nearly beat him to the point he couldn't even tell which drop of blood he was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most importantly, among the Blood Race, there existed six strict commandments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter one's status, whether a noble prince or a lowly blood servant, none could violate them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first of these, and the most traditional and important one, was...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seclusion...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One must not reveal their true form to non-Blood Race, otherwise, all other Blood Race would sever all ties with you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Laurien, having been recognized by Duke Barlow, and then failing to defeat him...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He directly committed the greatest capital crime among the Blood Race.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he could no longer return home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And just like that, he was required by Duke Barlow to live as an ordinary human in the Kante Kingdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duke Barlow even requested the previous king to grant him a territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laurien did not disappoint. In more than twenty years, he made that land prosper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to keep the residents from constant exhaustion, for the development of the territory, he even chose to believe in the Goddess of Abundance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A noble Blood Race prince actually began worshipping the Goddess of Abundance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wasn't because he deeply loved the people of his territory, because the Blood Race should not have emotions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He simply felt that even the Blood Race would not do such exhausting work, so why should these short-lived humans, who only live for a few decades, work so desperately?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the result was...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Blood Race prince won the love of all the residents in his territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the end, this Blood Race prince still committed the most serious mistake among the Blood Race.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laurien fell in love with a human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Love blinded him completely. For the first time, he felt emotions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wanted to be with a human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he would not turn her into one of his own kind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Laurien's love for her was not possession, not coercion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He simply loved her as a human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And likewise, the one she loved was also just Laurien.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The kingdom's count, the kind lord who was willing to lower himself so that his people wouldn't have to work too hard yet could still have enough to eat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not that Blood Race prince.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this was destined to be a mistake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Never had a Blood Race and a human fallen in love, and between them, a wrong result was born.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Priscilla was born in this strange and chaotic environment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laurien was afraid, because he did not know what kind of being a child between a human and the Blood Race would become.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the newly born Priscilla was just an extremely ordinary, adorable child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, Laurien no longer worried too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until Priscilla reached the age of seventeen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the world of the Blood Race, a seventeen-year-old had already reached adulthood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They could spread their wings and develop their own territory and kin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But from birth, Priscilla had lived as a human and showed no traits of the Blood Race.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made Laurien extremely confident, firmly believing his daughter could live her life peacefully as a human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, things often develop in the worst possible direction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the night of her seventeenth birthday, Priscilla suddenly fell into madness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The traits of the Blood Race erupted from her body, instantly turning her into a frenzied vampire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night, in her madness, Priscilla planted the seeds of brutality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When she woke, the aftereffects of the madness caused her immense pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And she had no memory of the atrocities she had committed, including how many innocent lives she had taken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To treat Priscilla's madness and prevent it from worsening, Laurien painfully decided to lock her inside the house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Priscilla's madness lasted for an entire year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The suffering she endured also lasted for an entire year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She needed to constantly consume fresh blood just to slightly ease the madness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Misfortune never comes alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone believed it was Laurien's mad wife who had killed their daughter, but that was only the story he used to hide the truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In reality, it was Priscilla, who had become a bloodline creature, who killed Laurien's wife.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That nightmare of a night nearly broke Laurien completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sought help from everyone he could, including Duke Barlow, who had taken care of him since he first arrived in the kingdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, he made a request to Duke Barlow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To have him swap the souls of his wife and Priscilla.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a result, the words Duke Barlow said back then remained deeply etched in Laurien's memory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your wife could have lived well, but she chose to possess emotions she should not have had.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But that wrong kind of emotion is also human nature, something every mother would have.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Duke told him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, his wife had already gone to the Duke long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She already knew Laurien was of the Blood Race, and she already knew what caused Priscilla's severe condition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, she obtained a solution from the Duke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The answer was…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Other than you replacing Priscilla and bearing her pain, I have no other method.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"However, even if you do this, she will only become a wandering spirit, but she will not dissipate.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She will retain the memories of her seventeenth year, and keep waiting.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Until one day, when a true solution is found, she will return to her body.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And you will take her place.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your soul will scatter and vanish.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, Laurien's wife decisively did it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laurien did not allow her to enter their daughter's room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So she waited for the day he had to leave, and quietly entered Priscilla's room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By coincidence, that very night, Priscilla's madness flared up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In her madness, she killed her mother, and that was exactly what her mother had hoped for.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Duke swapped their souls, and from then on, Priscilla's mother bore the suffering of the madness in her place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even losing her sanity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the day Viktor and Laurien made their deal, Laurien told Viktor this heartbreaking truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My wife has already sacrificed herself. I cannot ignore her final wish.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Viktor's deep, night-sky-like gaze fixed on Laurien.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then, what do you plan to do?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laurien, filled with worry, lowered his head and spoke honestly to Viktor, \"The Duke told me that His Majesty August cannot control his own ambition.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He wants to complete the revival of mages, to once again use necromancers to secure his rule.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the kingdom had anti-magic stones, once they were monopolized by August, every high-ranking mage would be controlled by him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Becoming his puppets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So, the Duke plans for me to test him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If His Majesty August truly does something out of line, then…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Count Laurien would expose his identity as a Blood Race, and agree to marry his daughter to August, strengthening his rule as king.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Laurien used only one reason to convince August.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To revive his daughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And if August truly uses this opportunity to revive my daughter, he is destined to fail because of it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stage that followed would be taken over by Count Laurien.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He would use all his power as a prince to turn the entire Shulben into his blood reservoir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In doing so, he would bear all the crimes himself, minimizing August's influence over the kingdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of this was to ensure his daughter's safety.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the Duke also allowed him to extract blood energy from the humans in his territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire Shulben territory had over a million humans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If each person only gave up a year or half a year of their blood energy, it would be enough for Priscilla to evolve into a true Blood Race.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But even so, this choice was filled with pain for Laurien.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His daughter's chance to live, and a year of life from a million residents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a difficult decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Laurien was certain that the residents would be willing to lend him that year of blood energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, lend.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because this time, he did not plan to keep living.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In my life, I have only loved two people...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His wife, and his daughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His wife's sacrifice made Laurien make his final decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In the end, please kill me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Only you, I believe, can truly kill the undying me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I will use my death to return my blood energy to everyone.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as others said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was a deeply beloved count.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holy light turned into a gentle breeze, passing through Count Laurien's collapsing flesh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless pieces of flesh slowly tore apart under the golden light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, fine cracks spread across his already shattered body, and dense blood energy poured into the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the blink of an eye, the pale head on his body split into countless cracks and scattered like fragments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only that single crimson eye remained, still watching Priscilla.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meeting her gaze, filled with shock and confusion, as if she understood yet didn't.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only a faint, gentle voice, one that only Priscilla could hear, sounded quietly, \"Priscilla...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My sun, the light my heart follows.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I am willing to give everything, even if I am left with nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I only wish for you to escape this endless darkness of pain.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At last, Laurien raised his head and looked toward the sky, toward the blazing sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling his life rapidly fading, his soul separated from his flesh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His soul slowly closed its eyes in midair, bidding farewell to this world where dawn had just broken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Letting the holy light and blazing sun slowly consume him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he only murmured one final sentence, \"Praise the sun.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1917,"2026-05-30T15:48:18.711Z","2026-06-01T04:31:37.164Z",1,"novelbin.me","20255b8f8546e066abf4fbc203cedff7dec30f2757a8f25c53d22f47121051f3","am-i-the-villain-or-not-chapter-370","am-i-the-villain-or-not-chapter-368",393,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fam-i-the-villain-or-not-cover.jpg"]